My Side Of The Diamond by Sally Gardner

My Side Of The Diamond is a tightly written YA Science Fiction tale of love, loss and potentially redemption.

Skye and Lazarus have already jumped, or maybe they were pushed nobody is quite sure, from St. Paul's Cathedral and Icarus was there.  He didn't just bear witness, some people felt sure he was instrumental in them jumping.  Nobody can say they died because no bodies were ever found but that didn't stop Icarus being prosecuted and imprisoned.

Now Becky has gone missing and it seems that she has jumped off the under-construction Shard.  Her best friend, Jazmin, wasn't there but somehow she seems to have got the blame passed squarely on to her shoulders in the courts.  The consensus of opinion was that they were taking drugs and had, what could best be described as a mass hallucination, and it was all her fault.

The tale is narrated, on the whole, by Jazmin to a Mr Jones.  Told in a chatty way this moves the story along but also allows you to invest in the characters quite early in the telling.  One thing that really grated with me was the usage of "for shizzle" instead of "fo' shizzle".  Not much of a gripe but one that made me wince every time I read it - if you are going to try and emulate such speech patterns it does help if they look more "authentic".

Although not the target demographic, I enjoyed the story - it was a refreshing take on the teenage love story and not overly mawkish.  Not entirely sure that I would read through it again though as it was a put-downable tale.

What I do have to mention is the presentation of the book.  Bound in a textured cover it is designed to look like a notebook (probably a moleskine - will make sense when you read it) complete with a thick elastic-band to hold it closed.  This does make the perfect bookmark and believe me the thick, high quality paper this book is printed on begs you not to dog-ear the pages to keep your place.  The sheer aesthetics of this tome make it a perfect gift for the coming festive season for the avid or reluctant reader in your family or friends.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

**Review originally published October 17th, 2017**